Download Confucius and Mencius Excerpts

I. KONGZI/CONFUCIUS (551-479 B.C.E.)
I.4 Master Zeng said: "Every day I examine myself
on three counts: in my dealings with others, have I
in any way failed to be dutiful? In my interactions
with friends and associates, have I in any way failed
to be trustworthy? Finally, have I in any way failed
to put into practice what I teach?"
II.3 The Master said, “If you try to guide the common
people with coercive regulations and keep them in
line with punishments, the common people will
become evasive and will have no sense of shame.
If, however, you guide them with Virtue, and keep
them in line by means of ritual, the people will have
a sense of shame and will rectify themselves.”
II.4 The Master said: "At fifteen I set my mind upon
learning; at thirty I took my place in society; at forty I
became free of doubts; at fifty I understood
Heaven’s Mandate; at sixty my ear was attuned; and
at seventy I could follow my heart’s desires without
overstepping the bounds of propriety.”
III.3 The Master said: "A man who is not Good—
what has he to do with ritual? A man who is not
Good—what has he to do with music?"
IV.4
The Master said, "Merely set your heart
sincerely on Goodness and you will be free of bad
intentions.”
VII.6 The Master said, "Set your heart upon the Way
(dao), rely upon Virtue (de), lean upon Goodness
(ren), and explore widely in your cultivation of the
arts."
12.11 Duke Jing of Qi asked Kongzi about
governing. Kongzi responded, “Let the lord be a
true lord, the ministers true ministers, the fathers
true fathers, and the sons true sons.”
The Duke replied, “Well put! Certainly if the lord is
not a true lord, the ministers not true ministers, the
fathers not true fathers, and the sons not true sons,
even if there is sufficient grain, will I ever get to eat
it?”
***
II. MENGZI/MENCIUS (c. 320 B.C.E.)
2A6 Mengzi said, “Humans all have hearts that are
not unfeeling toward others. . . .
“The reason why I say that humans all have
hearts that are not unfeeling toward others is this.
Suppose someone suddenly saw a child about to
fall into a well: everyone in such a situation would
have a feeling of alarm and compassion—not
because one sought to get in good with the child’s
parents, not because one wanted fame among their
neighbors and friends, and not because one would
dislike the sound of the child’s cries.
“From this we can see that if one is without the
heart of compassion, one is not a human. If one is
without the heart of disdain, one is not a human. If
one is without the heart of deference, one is not a
human. If one is without the heart of approval and
disapproval, one is not a human. The heart of
compassion is the sprout of benevolence. The heart
of disdain is the sprout of righteousness. The heart
of deference is the sprout of propriety. The heart of
approval and disapproval is the sprout of wisdom.
“People having these four sprouts is like their
having four limbs.”
6A8 Mengzi said, “The trees of Ox Mountain were
once beautiful. But because it bordered on a large
state, hatchets and axes besieged it. Could it
remain verdant? Due to the rest it got during the
day or night, and the moisture of rain and dew, it
was not that there were no sprouts or shoots
growing there. But oxen and sheep then came and
grazed on them. Hence, it was as if it were barren.
People, seeing it barren, believed that there had
never been any timber there. Could this be the
nature of the mountain?!
“When we consider what is present in people,
could they truly lack the hearts of benevolence and
righteousness? That by which they discard their
good heart is simply like the hatchets and axes in
relation to the trees. With them besieging it day by
day, can it remain beautiful? With the rest it gets
during the day or night, and the restorative effects of
the morning qi, their likes and dislikes are
sometimes close to those of others. But then what
they do during the day again fetters and destroys it.
If the fettering is repeated, then the evening qi is
insufficient to preserve it. If the evening qi is
insufficient to preserve it, then one is not far from a
bird or beast. Others see that he is a bird or beast,
and think that there was never any capacity there.
Is this what a human truly is?!
“Hence, if it merely gets nourishment, there is
nothing that will not grow. If it merely loses its
nourishment, there is nothing than will not vanish.
Kongzi said, ‘Grasped then preserved; abandoned
then lost. Its goings and comings have no fixed
time. No one knows its home.’ Was it not the heart
of which he spoke?”
(Excerpted from Readings in Classical Chinese
Philosophy, 2nd edition, edited by Philip J. Ivanhoe
and Bryan W. Van Norden [Indianapolis, IN:
Hackett, 2005].)